In this episode I’m sharing for the first time about my experience with Al-Anon. I have been wanting to share about this for quite some time, but wasn’t ready until now. I sat down with my good friend Kat Beck and this conversation just flowed.

THIS EPISODE IS GREAT FOR ANYONE WHO:

Feels like your life have been affected by someone else’s drinking
Has difficulty setting boundaries
Tends to focus on others before themselves
Struggles to say how they are really feeling
Feels like your life is unmanageable

IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:

How I picked a sponsor & what that process has looked like for me

Discovering the healing power of a group & the power of vulnerability in this kind of setting

The affirmations and support I’ve received for sharing my suffering and being vulnerable

How for so long I didn’t realize: I don’t need to suffer alone

Differentiating between separating myself as a form of self-care versus when I’m isolating out of fear

I share how crying to me was the most vulnerable form of self-expression

How we can dissociate from our emotions, but that doesn’t mean they go away

Sorrow and Joy are opposite sides of the same coin

Why guilt can be a good indicator that we are honoring our higher power & intuition

Emotions are what show us that we are ALL connected

How although our stories and experiences can be drastically different we are all so much more alike that we often realize – emotions are our common thread

Minimizing our own oppression & how damaging it can be to compare our own experience to others and label it as “not as bad”

Tiny-T traumas deserve to be acknowledged

Trauma is a Spectrum

You can’t get to the core or root issues until you’ve peel each layer off one by one, it has to come layer by layer

The goal of the 12 steps in Al-Anon, in my experience so far, is to learn how to access your serenity

Learning that the only person you have control over is you

Detaching with love & say what you mean, without being mean

When I first started Al-Anon & one-on-one therapy I remember feeling like everyone could benefit from these practices. Often when we find something that works for us and we want to share it with others – yet this doesn’t always allow others the space to discover what works for them.